With the goal of greatly increasing the number of physicians serving in southern Nevada, MountainView Hospital and the University of Nevada School of Medicine have agreed to work toward the development of an expanded Graduate Medical Education (GME) program based at MountainView Hospital.

All GME positions are open to applicants from any accredited medical school. The planned GME program will represent a significant increase in existing GME positions in southern Nevada, from the current 233 to 380 or more, in several primary care and specialty disciplines. The program will help enhance the local supply of physicians serving southern Nevada and help to improve patient care access for the Las Vegas community. The expected start of the first residency program at MountainView Hospital could be as early as July 2016, depending on the speed with which a final affiliation agreement is reached. An agreement is expected to be completed before the end of 2014.

Preliminary discussions have focused on GME programs in critically needed primary care areas of internal medicine, family medicine and geriatrics, as well as general surgery, urology, neurology and selected medical and surgical subspecialties. The total program size of 150 additional resident positions will be developed over a five-year window.

GME, or residency training, is the phase of training after medical school that is required for a physician to practice medicine. It is the final phase of a long educational process and is most influential in determining where a physician eventually practices. The major expansion in southern Nevada residency training opportunities proposed in the partnership between the School of Medicine and MountainView Hospital is expected to have a significant impact on new physicians staying in Nevada to practice.

"The announcement that MountainView Hospital and the University of Nevada School of Medicine have joined together to create an expanded GME program for Nevada is commendable," said Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. "I look forward to MountainView accepting its first residents and for the larger impact this will have on Nevada healthcare."

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said, "This is only going to help our state and is a giant step toward our long-awaited goal of establishing an expanded, quality GME program in Nevada."

"This is an innovative program for Las Vegas and MountainView Hospital. We are looking forward to working with the University of Nevada School of Medicine toward a Graduate Medical Education program," said Chris Mowan, Chief Executive Officer, MountainView Hospital. "We want to help grow the pipeline of new physicians, and we want them to stay in our community. Offering medical students more options for their residency will keep more physicians in Nevada and assist as we continue to elevate patient care in our community."

"This partnership with MountainView Hospital is incredibly exciting, and is particularly notable because private hospitals have not traditionally affiliated with medical schools for large residency training programs. This agreement is a tribute to the vision and leadership of MountainView's medical staff, the Board of Trustees and the entire care team. This affiliation could lead to 50 to 60 residency and fellowship graduates each year who have a high likelihood of staying in southern Nevada and enhancing its health and health care," said Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., Dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine.